Chapter 49

William sat in the office, looking out at the unchanging view beyond the window. Outside the warehouse district, apart from the forklifts rumbling back and forth, there were only some Blue Straps.

The so-called Blue Straps were the day laborers of the warehouse district. They had no steady work and no fixed income, yet still had to feed themselves, and sometimes their families as well.

All of them were at least thirty-seven or older. They no longer had the foundation to learn new survival skills. They lacked the time, the energy, and even the mental sharpness for it.

So they could only trade strength for meager pay. Not everyone renting warehouse space could afford a forklift, or even afford to rent one, and not every type of cargo was suited to forklifts anyway. That left these men a narrow space in which to survive.

Then the office door sounded. William called, “Come in.” Vera stood awkwardly by the doorway for a few seconds before finally stepping into the room.

She was not especially comfortable being alone with William in a relatively enclosed space. Environments like that made people think too much, whether in good ways or bad.

Her hands did not seem to know where to go. One hand held the elbow of the other arm, while the other kept smoothing the hair by her ear. “When I was standing at the door just now, I noticed it looked like someone was watching us.”

William lifted a brow. He turned and rose to his feet, walked to the window, and looked outside. At a glance, he saw the people Vera meant.

And in that same instant, he understood why, the first time he had met Mr. Fox, the man had been so certain William did not work for the Federation government.

The men outside were wearing suits, sunglasses, hair slicked down with pomade, and gave off the sort of air that made it seem as though they could pull out badges and credentials at any moment. The daytime temperature in Sabine City was already nearing thirty degrees. Long sleeves alone felt stuffy. Yet these men...

He drew his gaze back.

Law enforcement was never truly stupid. If it were, so many criminals would not end up in their hands.

Their brazen surveillance was less surveillance than warning, a warning to William not to do anything rash, while also applying psychological pressure and waiting for him to make a mistake.